


Quite a Snowy-weather

by Chookers38



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Parent Prince Charming | David Nolan, don't repost to another site
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:48:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28367163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chookers38/pseuds/Chookers38
Summary: What started like a cold yet suny day in Maine took a more snowy turn. One that neither Killian or Emma saw coming...
Relationships: Captain Hook | Killian Jones/Emma Swan
Comments: 3
Kudos: 26
Collections: CSSS2020





	Quite a Snowy-weather

She could feel her guts twist and knot together. Killian had taken the day off, wanting to do some repairs to his ‘old girl’ before the weather started getting too cold. He promised her he’d be home before she got there, but the sun was long gone, the temperature slowly turning colder and she was still alone in their big house. The fact that she couldn’t find their two rascals only increased her worry.

“ _They should be home by now_ ,” Emma muttered again, looking at her phone for the tenth time.

Minutes were ticking by, dinner time slowly approaching and there was still no sign of him or their cats. Jolly and Roger would _never_ miss their dinner, she thought. If their food was late, the two cats would follow them, meowing furiously, until she or Killian gave them their meal. But tonight, the house was silent.

“Damn it, Jones. Where are you?”

Her phone rang and her hope sparkled anew, a smile creeping on her face until she saw it was from her father.

“Dad, he’s still not home,” Emma said without missing a beat, diving back headfirst into her nervous state.

“I... Emma, I’m sure he’s okay.” David had wanted to check on her after she’d texted him earlier, asking if he’d seen Killian after work. He had expected the pirate to be home by now, but it appears he was wrong. “He’s a pirate and a survivor. Pretty sure he just lost track of time and probably left his phone somewhere on his boat, it wouldn’t be his first time. Just give him a few more minutes-”

“But what if ...? He’s never late, Dad! What if something happened to him? I’ve already checked the docks, the Jolly isn’t there. Even the cats are missing! I don’t know what’s stopping me from going after him at this point!” Now that she thought about it, she should be putting on some warm clothes and heading outside to look for him instead of waiting here like an animal in a cage.

“Calm down, darling,” he said, but from the heavy sigh he heard on the line, he knew it wouldn’t be that easy. “I’m sure Killian will come home soon and he simply took the cats with him for a tour. You know how much he loves them.” _He loves his cats even more than his friend_ , David grumbled in his head. “It’s only been a few hours. The town has never been so quiet, there’s no need to panic yet, okay?”

“Yeah, well, that’s what’s worrying me! Last time the town was this peaceful, another damn villain decided to come and visit us!” She knew she was losing the battle against her nerves but she couldn’t help it. No matter what, her brain was going with the worst case scenario.

“Emma, I imagine he’ll sleep on the Jolly and will be back at first light tomorrow morning. We won’t find him now, it’s too dark and soon it’ll be freezing out there. A search party wouldn’t be effective.” David sighed, knowing it would only be a waste of time to run head first in those conditions. “I’ll try to call him again, and if he’s not home tomorrow morning, we’ll go look for him, okay?”

Emma took a deep breath, her eyes looking for any trace of her cats somewhere in the living room even though she knew she would find none. _Right, her father was correct_. She was too worried to think straight. Trying to search now would only increase her anxiety.

“ ‘kay. First thing tomorrow, right?”

“I promise, Emma. Now go get some rest, I’m sure everything will be fine and you’ll have two cats jumping on your face tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Emma chuckled at the idea. “You know he would kill you if he knew you called his Jolly a ‘boat’,” she added after a pause.

“I know.” Emma’s smile widened when she heard her father snort at the end of the line. “But what he doesn’t know, won’t hurt him.”

“Mmh. Thanks, Dad. See you tomorrow."

“You’re welcome, sweetheart. Sleep well.”

* * *

Everything had gone according to plan. Killian had taken the cats with him, enjoying their presence while he’d worked on his ship. By the middle of the afternoon, the Jolly was ship-shape and the weather pleasant enough for one last quick ride on the open sea before it was too cold. But what had started as a perfect day, took a drastic turn as the Jolly was blown off course, the strong current and the winds increasing the Jolly’s speed tremendously, preventing Killian from correcting their trajectory. Once he had realized the problem, Killian had run below to gather the two cats, keeping them close by as he was left to watch as his ship had crashed against an unknown shore. At least they hadn’t fallen into a magical portal and were still on the Maine coast. Once Killian was sure the Jolly wouldn’t move a jot without outside help, he had lowered the lads and himself to the ground, and set off on foot heading for the town line. With how far they drifted, Killian knew they had a long road ahead of them before they’d be anywhere near Storybrook’s borders.

It was only after two hours of walking in the semi-dense forest that Killian realized he’d forgotten his phone on board. But the light was fading, giving way to the moon and stars, and he couldn’t take the risk of losing more time than they already had. While Killian was busy worrying about the time, Roger and Jolly were running and playing ahead, stopping every now and then to make sure their human was still following them. Something caught Roger’s attention and Killian chuckled as the black and white predator disappeared into the underbrush. _‘At least, they’re having fun,_ ’ Killian thought, looking up at the stars to make sure that the lads hadn’t actually gotten them more lost than they already were inside the deep forest. Unfortunately, the precious guiding stars were beginning to be hidden by the tall trees. Minutes later, Killian and Jolly froze, the pleading meows of Roger echoing between the trees. Killian cursed loudly, knowing he shouldn’t have allowed him to follow his hunt. The light was nearly gone and now Killian was having a lot of trouble seeing. Thankfully, Jolly was already trying to track down the scent of his brother, answering his pained meows. After about an hour of searching through the vegetation, they finally found the missing cat. But it was too dark for Killian to see clearly, forcing him to kneel down and pat the ground in hopes of locating Roger. ‘ _Should have taught them to talk to us,_ ’ Killian grumbled, knowing the cat that was jumping around him could actually _see_ in the dark, unlike him, and could have helped him if he could talk. But as his mind was preoccupied by the thought, Killian didn’t pay enough attention to where he was placing his hand. Suddenly, his hand hung in space before he fell into the same void that Roger was trapped in. The fall was short but it was still deep enough for Killian to realize he was now trapped too.

“Damn it! She’s going to kill us, lad,” Killian cursed, dusting himself off while looking around, his belly knotting as he realized he couldn’t see anything. Not even Roger until the cat jumped on his lap.

With Roger now safely secured against his chest, Killian tried to move toward where he had fallen from, his movements led by the meowls of Jolly, still safe above. The moon had mercy on them, giving them the bare amount of lighting. But it still wasn’t enough for Killian to move quickly and get them out of the muddy hole.

“Bloody hell, how did you end up here, mate?” Killian groaned. _How had the shivering cat in his arms missed the huge hole?_ _With night vision?_ Killian shook his head. He just couldn’t understand them sometimes.

Killian found purchase and attempted to climb out before he slipped and fell on his ass, back to the bottom of the hole, dirt falling on his face. He heard Jolly meow frantically and his head shot up.

“Don’t move, Jolly! You better not fall down here, too. It’s already hard enough to get out with your brother!” Killian shouted angrily, his nerves ready to snap.

Taking a deep and calming breath, Killian became aware of the chilling temperature. It was only going to get colder and he would prefer to be free from this trap by then. He was about to take another shot at getting out, when a low grumble echoed around him. All sound stopped, even Roger who had meowed faintly since the start was now silent, Killian feeling the cat moving to free his head from under his jacket. Before Killian could give voice to his bad feeling about the situation, the ground began to shake and the earth beneath his feet crumbled away. Killian’s cry echoed against the walls of the hole as he fell deeper into the darkness.

Killian slowly came back to awareness, feeling like his skull was about to split with the constant pulse of his heart against the bone. Blinking away the dirt from his eyes, Killian realized the sun was up and that the way back to the surface was going to be even more challenging now. With a loud whimper, he pushed himself into a sitting position, Roger using his claws to keep from falling off his chest, where he’d been licking Killian’s skin. A strong shiver coursed over his body, Killian realizing he’d been out all night. He thanked his lucky stars that he didn’t completely freeze to death. Though the numbness in each of his extremities was definitely concerning. Before he could assess his condition for any more damage from his fall, a high-pitched sound caught Killian’s attention, the pirate lifting his hand and hook just in time to catch the falling cat. The two rascals were clearly happy to be back together again and with their owner as well. Passing his hand over his face, Killian tried to remain calm despite the whole new complication.

“Bloody hell.”

* * *

The search party found nothing. When Emma had called him at six the morning after Killian and the cats went missing, David knew it wouldn’t be to tell him her boys had returned home.

The first thing they’d tried was to locate Killian with the help of magic, Emma using one of his shirts to retrace his path, leading them to him. And it worked, for a few hours, the glowing garment slowly floating midair, leading them to the docks before heading toward the forest. They’d tracked him deep into the vegetation before the cloth suddenly fell to the ground. Emma had turned white, her stomach dropping at the possibility of Killian’s death. But Regina, who had agreed to come with them in case a new villain was behind the missing pirate, had told them it was simply because Killian had either disappeared from this world via a portal or that the tracking spell was stopped by a magical barrier. In both cases, they would need to search differently for clues to his whereabouts.

The first two days Emma helped in the search to find Jones but as more days passed and they still had no breakthrough, David could see how she was being impacted emotionally. So as prince and father, he made the executive decision to exclude her from the search.

“You can’t be serious, _David_?”

The man winced at the harsh tone of his daughter. He was so used to hearing her call him “Dad”, the use of his name was like a slap in the face.

“Emma, darling, I know it’s not what you want to hear, but-”

“You’re damn right it’s not what I want to hear!? Killian and the cats are still _missing_! How can you tell me to stop looking?” Emma lashed out in her worry, gesticulating wildly.

“Sweetheart, listen to yourself, you’re too emotional to be of any help to them,” Snow interrupted, regretting it as soon as Emma’s glare fell on her.

“Oh, sure! Because you would be content sitting on the sidelines if you were in my place, hum?” Emma took a moment to breathe, realizing she was being unfair toward her parents. But she couldn’t agree with them either. “You know what? Do what you want.” She threw up her hands. “I’m done with your method! But I swear, if one of them dies? It’ll be your fault. And I, I-” She stopped, needing to breathe through her squeezed throat, tears blurring her vision. “I’ll never forgive you.”

She left the small loft without a backward glance, leaving her parents to deal with the hurt caused by her outburst. The more she walked the more she realized she should go back and apologize to them. ‘ _But you’re hurting too_ ’ the voice in her head whispered, the tears now falling freely on her face as she ran toward home. She was more than hurting. She was slowly dying inside. It was like Killian had died all over again. And this time she didn’t even have Jolly and Roger to help her deal with the pain as she curled on the too big bed, wrapped in Killian’s shirt.

But the final blow came the next day. They still hadn’t found anything and a snowstorm burst from the sky, out of nowhere, making any tracks they might have followed fall into oblivion. Emma felt helpless. But before she gave up, she would try one last time to find him. Making sure her parents wouldn’t stop her, Emma put on her warmest outfit and jumped into her yellow bug, the windshield wipers moving as fast as they could against the huge snowflakes falling. The strong wind gusted against the little bug making Emma feel like it was nearly pushing her backwards. She was slowly driving to the town line, feeling like maybe, just maybe Killian would be there. But when she stopped the car within view of the _Welcome to Storybrooke_ sign, she was met with the white nothingness of the landscape. She waited there for a good ten minutes before the car started to sputter and she reluctantly turned around to start driving back to town.

Then a miracle happened.

It was the only thing she could think of when she suddenly saw a black form appear in the rearview mirror obscured by the snow. Without thinking she grabbed the emergency brake, the car sliding on the snow before it stopped, allowing Emma to rush outside, taking several quick steps toward the human form before she stopped. It suddenly occurred to her that maybe it wasn’t Killian. Perhaps she was about to face the next villain or some random stranger. She opened her mouth to call out to the figure. A strong gust whipped the snow against her face, and with it, a muffled sound. A familiar one. A meowing, one she knew too well, making her heart soar with hope.

“Killian? Killian, is that you?!” Emma shouted, taking another step forward.

The black form ahead halted before it began to walk faster toward her, a new small black form appearing on the white ground. The next moment Emma was falling on her knees to catch Jolly as he ran to her, meowing frantically, before jumping out of her arms and going back to the human that she could now recognize.

“Oh my god, Killian! Killian, are you okay?” she cried, hugging him fiercely.

“A-aye, l-love,” the pirate stuttered, forcing a smile despite his lips quivering and teeth chattering.

“You’re freezing! Wait where’s- is Roger with you too?” Emma asked worriedly, her eyes searching for the missing black kitten.

“H-he’s in h-here. E-em-mma,” Killian explained, moving his wrapped arm a bit to indicate where the cat was being shielded.

“Oh my god, thanks. Gosh, Killian... I’ve- I’ve-”

Emma couldn’t finish her sentence, her voice disappearing as she was overwhelmed by emotion. She simply wrapped her arms around her shaking pirate again, anchoring her gloved fingers in his hair that had started to freeze. When she noticed Killian wasn’t responding to her, she quickly pushed away, realizing his skin was red, his lips already turning blue.

“Gosh, I’m so stupid! Let’s get you three inside!”

“T-that w-would b-be f-fant-tas-tic. T-thanksss l-love.” Killian managed to chuckle, following her as fast as his numb legs would allow. Jolly was back in Emma’s arms as she opened the passenger door and got him settled inside.

* * *

The ride back to the house took more time than Emma wanted but the snowstorm was still raging making it difficult to see much ahead. She made sure to keep Killian talking to her, not wanting him to fall asleep until he was properly warmed up and safe in their house. If she had been just a few minutes later, he might have died from hypothermia, or at least that’s what her panicked mind thought. But she had the presence of mind to not put the hot air directly on him, remembering her First Aid lessons. When they finally arrived home, Jolly had stopped shivering, Killian’s lips had returned to a normal color and Roger had peered out of Killian’s leather jacket, though his two ears were still trembling.

“Where have you been, Killian?” Emma asked once she closed the door behind them, using her magic to turn on all the lights and start the fire.

“Well, as y-you might have g-guessed, Swan, I-”

“Nobody’s seen you in _days_! I was worried sick, Jones! So don’t talk like this is funny!” Emma snapped when she realized how Killian was about to answer her.

“Emma, I... it’s not. W-wait, did you say days?” Killian stopped, his arms still holding Roger tight against his chest, Jolly meowing at his feet for attention. “We... I’ve been out barely two days.”

“Two days?” Emma looked incredulously at Killian who continued to shiver from time to time. “Killian, tomorrow it will be six days since you went to the dock for your stupid ship!”

“B-but that’s not possible, Swan. I, I just took the old girl for one last ride when w-we found ourselves carried away by a strange current. T-then we walked back to S-storybrooke when Roger f-fell into a hole.” Killian stopped, moving to sit on the nearest seat as he felt his legs getting tired. Emma moved along, her temper calmer now that he was explaining what happened. “It was probably the middle of the n-night and I couldn’t see much. The next thing I knew, I was falling deeper in the hole. And I-I must have knocked my head, cause the sun was already up when I woke up. Then it was just a couple of hours for me to haul myself and the l-lads out of the trap. After that, I-I could feel we were closer to the town when the b-bloody storm caught me.”

Emma looked at Killian, all her anger disappearing as her brain slowly put the pieces together. With his side of the story, Regina’s explanation to the malfunctioning tracking spell made more sense. If it had truly been only two days for him, there was definitely some strange magical time craziness spell at work. Shaking her head, Emma pushed the thought aside. She’d text Regina later about it. Taking her phone, she quickly texted her father about the situation before she faced Killian who hadn’t moved from his stool. With a long sigh she walked up to him and held him in her arms, making sure she wouldn’t squeeze Roger between them. Killian moved so he could hug her too, a content noise escaping her lips as she allowed herself to relax in his arms. Killian lay a kiss on her shoulder before nuzzling his face against her neck, the coldness of his nose reminding Emma how close he had come to freezing outside.

“Don’t you ever do that to me again, Killian.”

“Aye. I’ll do my best, love,” Killian whispered back. He may not be able to promise her such a thing knowing it would likely be one he’d break if a villain was to separate them again, but he’ll always return to her. That he could promise on his life.

“Okay. Now how about I take a look at that little sailor?” Emma asked softly.

Emma carefully helped Killian extract Roger from his hideout, the cat grumbling during the whole process, clearly not happy to be moved away from his comfy spot. Placing him on the table, Emma noticed right away something was wrong with his legs.

“Come on baby, it’ll be like it never happened in a few seconds,” Emma spoke softly, petting the shivering cat as she prepared her magic. “Can you tell me what happened again with that one?”

“To be honest l-love, I had no idea until n-now. All I knew was that something must have hurt-t him from all the noise he was m-making.” Stepping closer, Killian tried to hide the small wince from leaning on his hand. “You didn’t f-find anything serious, though?”

“No, he’ll be just fine, Killian. But I’m sure not being exposed to the cold temperature helped him a lot.” With a flick of her wrist, Emma fixed the few wounds of the cat who tested his paws carefully before eagerly jumping down to join his brother. “Which couldn’t be said for you pirate. How are the extremities?”

“I have to admit, I’m s-still cold, but it’s nothing compared to earlier,” he answered with hardly a stammer along with a smile.

“Well then, let’s get you warm, shall we?”

Emma’s smile was definitely giving Killian ideas about ways to get him warmer. Though Emma started to frown when she saw Killian was still having difficulties talking and taking off his leather jacket.

“Are you hurt?” she asked, looking at him in the eyes.

“No,” Killian answered just a bit too fast. The next thing he knew, Emma was back into his personal space, prodding him, seeking out every inch of skin.

“Then why are there bruises all over your face?” She carefully lifted his damaged shirt from his middle. “And cuts covering your front?”

“It’s nothing, Swan. I can handle it.”

“Are you?”

Without giving him a chance to give her any other excuses for not worrying about his condition, she got on with undressing him completely so he stood in his underwear, growling about not being a child and preferring to have her undressing him for other activities. Which only made her angrier. She should have seen this earlier!

“Damn it, Killian, _this_ is not nothing! You’re covered in bruises and cuts! And I’m not talking about the color of your feet! Why couldn’t you have just told me about it as soon as I found you?”

“Bloody hell, Swan! What should I’ve told you when I barely noticed it myself?” Killian shot back.

“Well, I don’t know, like...” She should have worried about it when his skin had stopped being red from the cold, Emma thought, she _should_ have noticed everything. But she had been more worried about the damn cats. She was so stupid.

“Like, ‘Swan, I fell head first into a hole only to fall deeper the next minute and probably knocked myself on oh, _I don’t know what_?’,” Killian took a moment as Emma realized he’d already told her what he knew. “I told you that, Swan,” he continued a little more calmly, coming to hold her against him. “And now there’s nothing to worry about because you found me and the lads and we’re alive. That’s what matters, Emma. Those cuts and bruises are nothing compared to what I’ve faced in the past.” Killian pushed her away, looking at her in the eyes before kissing her on the forehead.

“I’m sorry, Killian.”

“It’s alright, love.” He waited another moment before he felt the cold again on his bare skin. “Now, not that I mind hugging you in nothing but my underwear, how about you magically poof away those evil cuts so we can properly warm me up?”

“You’re stupid, Jones.” Emma half complained, half laughed before letting her magic fix her pirate and take them upstairs to their bed, snuggling under the warm covers, their two furry pirates joining them.

**~/~**

Emma lay down, her gaze fixed on Killian’s sleeping face. It took them a few rounds of enjoyable activities to fully warm him and for her to be satisfied with his apologies for disappearing even if she knew it wasn’t his fault. But now that she lay awake on their bed, she found herself craving his presence after his prolonged absence. Yet she couldn’t just wake him up when he was sleeping so peacefully. Until she felt her anxiety slowing wrapping itself around her throat.

“Killian? Killian, I, I need-” her voice wavered, the ball of fear in her belly stopping her from saying another word.

“Swan?” Killian mumbled, moving so he was facing her, his thumb coming to caress her cheek. “Is everything alright, Emma?”

“I-” she swallowed down the lump in her throat before moving closer to him. “I, I need you to hug me right now. It’s, I think I might fall apart!”

“Come here, love.” Without losing another second, Killian pulled her against him, wrapping his arms tightly around her. “Ssssh. You’re alright, Swan. I’m here, I’m here.”

He felt her nod against his chest and let his eyes close again, slowly falling back asleep with his love secured in his arms. He was peacefully dreaming until Emma’s movements woke him again, her legs pushing his own away every time he got close.

“Dammit J-Jones! Get your feet away from me! They’re cold!” she hissed in a high-pitched voice, facing him before she started trying to bat him away.

“Hey. Hey!” Now fully awake, Killian tried to understand her sudden outburst, not letting her move away.

“Killian, let go of me!” She answered with a pout, but he could see she was only trying to stop a laugh.

“You said you wanted a hug! Stop hitting me!” he argued back, setting her free once she finally stopped slapping his poor innocent chest. Watching her hide behind her hair to stop him from seeing her smile, Killian chuckled, shaking his head. “Admit it love, you like hitting me, don’t you?”

Before she could answer, they both startled at Roger and Jolly falling from above their heads, finishing the battle that they started on top of Emma and Killian’s pillows, only stopping when Emma burst out laughing. She was soon followed by Killian, her complaint about ‘cold feet’ forgotten as they both grabbed a cat and brought them under the covers, the four of them happily snuggling together as the snow finally stopped outside.


End file.
